Andre Vacha
I’m a design technologist. My work sits at the intersection of product design, philosophy, and systems thinking.
I studied Data Science at Minerva University. Design was something I learned through practice—first at Deepcore, SoftBank’s Applied AI subsidiary, then at SoftBank and finally at DeSci Labs, where I worked on tools for academic search, collaborative peer review, and decentralized research publishing.
Since leaving the decentralized science space, my attention has turned inward. For a year and a half, I maintained a daily meditation practice. Mindfulness has grown from an interest seen through an aesthetic in my work into a way of being in the world. That shift has illuminated a critique of the digital tools and interfaces we live by; for example, most interfaces amplify distraction and acceleration, and dim presence or compassion.
My current work begins from that recognition. Beginning with pond, I’m exploring how software can invite a moment of pause and reflection.
Reading List
- Stuck On The Platform by Geert Lovink. Notes here.
- Radical Technologies by Adam Greenfield
- Ways of Being by James Bridle
- maybe its not so bad by Carla Ostmann
- The User Condition by Silvio Lorusso. Notes here.
- Strangers To Ourselves by Rachel Aviv
- The Humane Interface by Jef Raskin. Notes here.
- Perfect Days by Wim Wenders
- Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong
- Can You Imagine by Sublime. Notes here.
themes: slow-living, world-building, tech criticism, design ethics, media ecologies, humane interfaces.
Inspirations
- are.na, a toolkit for assembling new worlds from the scraps of old ones
- kinopio, a spatial note taking tool for visually collecting and connecting your thoughts
- Modem Works, office for design and innovation with an end date
- dan-ball Powder Game (2006), a browser-based multiplayer physics simulator